Private embedded marketplace

ABSTRACT

Consistent with some embodiments of the present invention, an online marketplace service includes am embedded marketplace service that enables third-party merchants to quickly and easily leverage the online marketplace to offer marketplace functionality via their respective online retail stores. Each third-party merchant can configure the embedded marketplace service to meet its needs. For instance, with a user interface presenting various configuration options, the third-party merchant can select a variety of seller-specific, item-specific, or product-specific aspects that must be satisfied to have item listings or product listings qualify for presentation via the merchant&#39;s online retail store.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.13/407,150, filed Feb. 28, 2012, which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to data processing methods andsystems. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to methods,systems and computer program products for facilitating a marketplacesystem with an embedded marketplace service that enables an onlineretailer to rapidly deploy an embedded, private (e.g., branded)marketplace.

BACKGROUND

The Internet has given rise to a whole new world of commerce, commonlyreferred to as electronic commerce or simply e-commerce. The term“e-commerce” encompasses many distinct disciplines that directly supportor play a role in the buying and selling of goods and services overelectronic, computer-based, networked systems. For example, broadlyspeaking, e-commerce consists of the entire online process ofdeveloping, marketing, selling, delivering, servicing and paying forproducts and services.

One particular distinction that can be made within the broader realm ofe-commerce involves the distinction between what many refer to as onlineretail stores (sometimes referred to as “e-tailers”) and onlinemarketplaces. An online retail store typically consists of one or moreservers with which consumers will directly interact via the Internet topurchase goods and services. Generally, with online retail stores, theoperating entity (i.e., the merchant or retailer) is ultimately theseller of the goods and/or services. In contrast, an online marketplaceinvolves an electronic system that serves as an intermediary—a sort ofvirtual meeting place—where buyers and sellers can meet to arrange forthe exchange of goods and services. Accordingly, the operating entity ofan online marketplace is typically not the seller of the goods andservices offered via the marketplace. Instead, individual merchants orsellers will list their goods and services via the online marketplace,and the operating entity of the marketplace will typically charge aper-listing and/or per-transaction fee for providing the marketplacesystem with which sellers connect with buyers.

Recently, some online retailers have attempted to bolster their onlineretail stores by implementing marketplace-like features in conjunctionwith their traditional online retail stores and through which additionalgoods and/or services are offered to consumers. However, such anundertaking involves a host of problems and difficulties. For example,to implement a proprietary marketplace system, first, an online retailerwill have to identify and then reach out and partner with various othermerchants or sellers who have products or services that arecomplementary to those being offered via the online retailer's store.This will likely involve negotiating and agreeing on revenue sharingdeals with each merchant or seller. In addition, the online retailermust build out the necessary supporting information technologyinfrastructure required to support and host the marketplace features.Among other requirements, the infrastructure will need to 1) enablemerchants and sellers to upload inventory information to the onlineretailer's system, 2) enable consumer orders on the retail site for amerchant's or seller's goods to be passed on to the merchant or seller,and 3) enable payments to be accounted for and divided appropriately inview of each individual revenue sharing agreement. These and many otherrequirements make the prospects of implementing a proprietarymarketplace system a costly and difficult endeavour.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Some embodiments are illustrated by way of example and not limitation inthe figures of the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a network environment thatincludes an online marketplace system offering an embedded marketplaceservice, consistent with some embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating various functional modules orcomponents of a marketplace system that facilitates an embeddedmarketplace service, consistent with some embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method forestablishing, and then periodically modifying, one or more configurationsettings of an embeddable marketplace service, according to someembodiments of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method for processing arequest, received from a third-party server that is configured to use anembedded marketplace service, the request for marketplace listings to bepresented via an online retail store hosted at the third-party server,according to some embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates an example user interface for use with an onlineretail store that is configured to use an embedded marketplace service,according to some embodiments of the invention; and

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a machine in the form of a computing devicewithin which a set of instructions, for causing the machine to performany one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, may be executed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure describes an online marketplace system with anembedded (or, embeddable) marketplace service that will allow an onlineretailer operating an online retail store to rapidly configure anddeploy various marketplace features that operate in conjunction with theonline retailer's conventional online retail store. Accordingly, anonline retailer can configure the embedded marketplace service, therebyallowing the online retailer to present marketplace listings via theonline retailer's online retail store. In the following description, forpurposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth inorder to provide a thorough understanding of the various aspects ofdifferent embodiments of the present invention. It will be evident,however, to one skilled in the relevant art, that the present inventionmay be practiced without all of the specific details.

For purposes of the present disclosure, in the context of an onlinemarketplace, the term “item” refers generally to an individual good orservice that is being offered via a listing —specifically, an “itemlisting”—that is posted to, and then published by, the onlinemarketplace. When a marketplace seller generates an item listing for anitem, the marketplace seller typically provides a description of theitem, and may specify various attribute values for different attributesor characteristics of the item (e.g., color, size, shape, condition,model, make, age, and so forth). In the context of an onlinemarketplace, the term “product” refers to a good that has a pre-definedset of attributes or characteristics, for example, as might be specifiedin a product catalog hosted and managed by the marketplace, or by anexternal catalog service. As such, when a seller generates what isreferred to as a “product listing” for a product, rather than provide adescription of the product and specify the various product attributes,the seller may simply identify the product by some product identifier(ID) (e.g., a stock keeping unit (SKU) or some similar type of ID) andthe marketplace system will automatically generate the product listingto include an appropriate description of the product. As used herein,the term “marketplace listing” is meant to encompass both item listingsand product listings.

Consistent with some embodiments of the invention, an online marketplacesystem hosts and operates an online marketplace enabling buyers andsellers to arrange for the exchange of goods and services. The onlinemarketplace system includes a service (e.g., a web service, accessiblevia an application programming interface (API)), referred to herein asan embedded marketplace service, that allows online retailers whopartner with the online marketplace to quickly integrate variousfeatures of the online marketplace system for use with their respectiveonline retail stores. As such, online retailers can offer a wide varietyof marketplace features to their respective customers via eachretailer's existing online retail store without the expense and hassleof both implementing a proprietary information technology solution for aproprietary marketplace, and identifying and partnering with variousmerchants and sellers to offer goods and services via the proprietarymarketplace. Although the embedded marketplace service is described andillustrated herein as being integrated with an online retailer (e.g., athird party operating a merchant/retail server), the embeddedmarketplace service could just as easily be integrated with any of awide variety of websites, to include news-related sites, blogs, socialnetworking services, and just about any other type of website.Furthermore, the embedded marketplace service can be branded in anynumber of ways to operate under a brand agreed upon by the third partyand the operator of the marketplace. For instance, the embedded onlinemarketplace may be accessible via the domain of the third party, but bebranded with the brand of the online marketplace. Alternatively, theembedded online marketplace may operate under a brand that is associatedwith the third party operator of the retail website.

As will be described in greater detail below, by leveraging the power ofthe embedded marketplace service, an online retailer (or other websiteoperator) can provide via its online retail store (or other website) agreat many marketplace features, some of which are briefly describedherein. With some embodiments of the invention, the operator of theonline retail website can manipulate various configuration settings,including a variety of filtering mechanisms, to configure the embeddedmarketplace service to operate as desired with the online retailwebsite. For example, with some embodiments, the embedded marketplaceservice provides a variety of configuration settings and filteringmechanisms by which the online retailer can select and/or filter variousaspects of the marketplace for use with the online retailer's ownwebsite. Specifically, one such filtering mechanism allows the onlineretailer to establish seller eligibility requirements that determinewhich sellers participating in the marketplace will be eligible toparticipate, via the embedded marketplace service, in the onlineretailer's retail site. With some embodiments, the seller-specificfiltering mechanism may allow the online retailer to select specificsellers (e.g. by username or other identity) to participate, includingsellers who meet selected criteria (e.g., top-rated sellers, powersellers, business sellers, sellers based on feedback, sellers who haveagreed to certain revenue sharing agreements, etc.) With someembodiments, a filtering mechanism may allow an online retailer toestablish seller policy eligibility requirements. For instance, thefiltering mechanism may allow the online retailer to require thatparticipating sellers establish and maintain a certain return policy foritems, offer specific payment methods, require specific shippingservices, agree to meet specific shipping and handling times, etc.Accordingly, the online retailer may, with the use of the seller policyeligibility filtering mechanism, select sellers who have establishedvarious policies that meet or exceed the online retailer's expectations,thus providing a seamless and integrated experience to the end-users ofthe online retail site.

In addition to specifying various seller-specific filtering criteria,with some embodiments, the embedded marketplace service allows theonline retailer to establish item-specific and/or product-specificeligibility requirements. For instance, with some embodiments, afiltering mechanism allows an online retailer to select only certaincategories, or specific sub-categories, of items and/or products foreligibility with the online retailer's site via the embedded marketplaceservice. In addition, the filtering mechanism may allow the onlineretailer to specify item-specific criteria, such as item conditions(e.g., brand new items, manufacturer refurbished items, used items,etc.), item offering formats (e.g., auction offering, or fixed-priceoffering), only items that are listed as products in a catalog (e.g.,product listings), and other criteria.

Once an online retailer (or other website operator) has established thevarious seller and item/product eligibility requirements, a backendcomponent or process of the embedded marketplace service analyzes themarketplace listings to identify those listings that meet theeligibility requirements, for example, as determined by the variousfiltering mechanisms, for the particular online retailer. In someinstances, the marketplace listings that satisfy the eligibilityrequirements are tagged, flagged, or otherwise identified as meeting theeligibility requirements of the particular seller. With someembodiments, the same backend component or process will analyze newmarketplace listings, as they are generated at the marketplace, todetermine their eligibility for presentation at the online retailer'swebsite via the embedded marketplace service.

Once the eligible listings for a particular online retailer areidentified (e.g., tagged or flagged), the eligible listings are madeavailable to the retail or merchant server of the participating onlineretailer in one of several ways. For instance, with some embodiments,the eligible marketplace listing information is communicated to themerchant server of the online retailer via a periodic (e.g., daily,semi-daily, or other scheduled) data feed. For instance, with someembodiments, the information representing the eligible marketplacelistings may be communicated to the merchant server once per day in adata feed, with periodic updates being communicated throughout the day,to reflect changes in the information. The data feed may be invoked orinitiated by the embedded marketplace service, or by the embeddedmarketplace module residing at the merchant or retailer server. Withsome embodiments, the data feed may be invoked on a scheduled basis, aswell as manually, as needed or desired. With some embodiments, ratherthan communicating the data from the marketplace server(s) to theindividual merchant or retail server of the online retailer, themarketplace listings are simply hosted at the marketplace server andaccess to the information is provided over the network on an as neededbasis. For example, when a search is performed via the online retailer'swebsite, the query may be forwarded to the marketplace servers forprocessing, and the relevant results returned to the merchant or retailserver for further processing and presentation to the user.

The operator of the online retail store can present marketplace listingsin a variety of ways. For instance, with some embodiments, marketplacelistings may be integrated into the search results provided by thesearch engine of the online retail store, such that products offereddirectly by the online retailer are intermingled with those items andproducts being offered by marketplace sellers via the embeddedmarketplace service. Alternatively, the retailer may elect to havemarketplace listings presented in a separate user interface, such as aseparate window pane or frame. In any case, by specifying a variety ofconfiguration settings (e.g., seller and item eligibility requirements,data feed settings, presentation settings, and others) for the embeddedmarketplace service, an online retailer can configure the embeddedmarketplace service to suit the retailer's particular needs andcomplement the retailer's own product offerings and store policies,without the need of developing a highly customized and proprietarymarketplace solution. Other aspects and advantages of the inventivesubject matter described herein will be readily apparent from thedescription of the figures that follows.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a network environment 10 thatincludes an online marketplace system offering an embedded marketplaceservice, consistent with some embodiments of the invention. Asillustrated in FIG. 1, the marketplace service is implemented with oneor more marketplace servers 12 that are hosting various marketplaceapplication modules 14, and an embedded marketplace service module 16.The marketplace application modules 14 represent instructions executableby one or more processors to facilitate the various applications,functions and services that are provided by the online marketplaceservice and the embedded marketplace service. For example, individualmarketplace application modules 14 may provide applications,functionality and services to include: a marketplace listing serviceenabling marketplace sellers to generate, post and manage marketplacelistings, a payment service for processing payments, a search engineservice to enable searching for goods, a reputation service forestablishing reputation information for users, a photo and imageprocessing service to enable marketplace sellers to find and processimages for use in marketplace listings, and a wide variety of othermarketplace features and services. Similarly, the embedded marketplaceservice module 16 represents executable instructions that serve to makemany of the applications, functions and services of the onlinemarketplace accessible to third-party servers hosting online retailstores and other types of websites, such as the server in FIG. 1 withreference number 18.

With some embodiments, such as that illustrated in FIG. 1, themarketplace service can operate independently of the embeddedmarketplace service 16. For instance, the marketplace applicationmodules 14 of the marketplace servers 12 provide the functionality ofthe online marketplace under a brand, and an associated Uniform ResourceLocator (URL) 20, that are owned by the entity that operates and managesthe marketplace service. Simultaneously, the embedded marketplaceservice module 16 enables some of the applications, functionality andservices of the marketplace service to be accessible via one or moreonline retail stores hosted at respective third-party servers 18, andaccessible by potential buyers via an independent URL 22. For instance,using a client computing device 36 with a web browser application, apotential buyer can purchase goods, including those offered via themarketplace service, directly from an online retail store executing at amerchant/retail server 18. With some embodiments, the entity that ownsand operates the marketplace service may charge a fee to marketplacesellers and/or marketplace buyers for enabling the sellers and buyers toexchange goods and services via the online marketplace. Similarly, theoperator of the marketplace service may charge a fee to its partnerretailers for use of the embedded marketplace service.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the marketplace servers 12 include a sellerinterface 24, a buyer interface 26, and a marketplace interface 28. Eachinterface 24, 26 and 28 represents both a user interface component, andone or more data interfaces (e.g., APIs) by which the marketplaceservers exchange data with other computing devices, such as clientcomputing devices 32, 34 and the merchant/retail server(s) 18.

In general, the seller interface 24 includes logic for communicatingvarious user interfaces to a client computing device 32 that iscommunicatively coupled to the marketplace server(s) 12 via a network30, such as the Internet. With some embodiments, the user interfaces arein the form of web pages, and are communicated by a web server to a webbrowser application executing on a client computing device 32 of amarketplace seller. The user interfaces generally enable a marketplaceseller to interact with the online marketplace service via the clientcomputing device 32 and, in particular, to generate, post and manageitem listings and product listings (collectively referred to asmarketplace listings) for items and products, respectively, which areoffered via the marketplace service, and in some instances, offered viaan online retail store hosted at a merchant/retail server 18 that isconfigured for use with the embedded marketplace service. With someembodiments, the seller interface 24 may use web-based protocols tocommunicate user interface information to a desktop or mobileapplication, including a mobile app executing on a mobile device, suchas a smartphone, or tablet computer. With some embodiments, one or moreAPIs associated with the seller interface enable a marketplace seller touse a desktop or mobile application to generate and post to themarketplace service multiple item listings with a single request.Similarly, using such an API and application, the marketplace seller canaccess and obtain various information concerning the performance of theseller's item listings and product listings, to include information suchas, the number of impressions a particular marketplace listing hasreceived as a result of user's searches, the number of page views that aparticular listing has received, and so forth.

The buyer interface 26 enables the marketplace service to communicatevarious user interface information (e.g., web pages) to potentialbuyers. As with the seller interface, with some embodiments the buyerinterface 26 enables a buyer or potential buyer to interact with themarketplace service via a web browser application executing on a clientcomputing device 34. Various user interfaces allow a buyer or potentialbuyer to browse for items and products, search for items and products,as well as conclude a purchase transaction for an item or product.

The marketplace interface 28 operates in conjunction with the embeddedmarketplace service module 16 and includes a user interface component aswell as a data interface or API component. Specifically, the marketplaceinterface 28 provides various user interfaces that enable third-partypartners (e.g. online retailers) to configure and customize the embeddedmarketplace service for use with their respective online retail stores.Additionally, the marketplace interface 28 provides one or more APIs bywhich third-party servers hosting online retail stores can exchange datawith the online marketplace service. For example, using an API of themarketplace interface 28 and the embedded marketplace service module 16,a third-party server may communicate users' search queries to themarketplace service so that the embedded marketplace service can respondwith item listings and/or product listings for presentation via theonline retail store. With some embodiments, a marketplace module 38 mayreside and execute at a third-party server 18 to facilitate the exchangeof data and interaction between the online retail store and themarketplace service. The marketplace module 38 may be provided by theentity operating the marketplace, but may also be configurable andcustomizable so as to allow integration of the module with the softwareplatform or framework in use at the third-party server.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating various functional modules orcomponents of a marketplace system that facilitates an embeddedmarketplace service, consistent with some embodiments of the invention.As illustrated in FIG. 2, the marketplace system 40 is hosted on one ormore marketplace servers 12, and includes two primary components ormodules—a collection of marketplace application modules 14 and anembedded marketplace service module 16. The marketplace applicationmodules 14 represent the executable instructions that facilitate thevarious applications, functions and services of the marketplace service.For example, the marketplace application modules 14 include a listingmanagement module 42, a payment processing module 44, and a searchengine module 46.

A wide variety of other functional modules might be included within theapplication modules 16 to provide other applications, functions orservices for the marketplace service. In addition, those skilled in therelevant art will readily appreciate that the distribution of thevarious functional modules illustrated in FIG. 2 amongst one or moreservers may vary from one embodiment to the next, without departing fromthe scope of the invention. For example, with some embodiments, one ormore particular functions, performed by certain modules, may beperformed by a certain cluster of servers, while other servers arededicated to performing other functions. In particular, with someembodiments, the many modules associated with providing the corefunctionality of a marketplace service may reside on a first set ofservers, while a second set of servers may host the embedded marketplaceservice, which enables the online retail stores to provide the variousmarketplace functions via their own respective servers.

In general, the listing management module 42 enables marketplace sellersto generate and post, to the marketplace service, various item andproduct listings. In addition to specifying various item attributes foruse with an item listing, and/or indicating a product identifier for aproduct to be listed via a product listing, a seller may indicatewhether a particular item or product listing should be considered forpresentation to potential buyers at one or more retail stores via theembedded marketplace service. Accordingly, with some embodiments, amarketplace seller's participation in the embedded marketplace serviceis controlled by the seller, providing the seller an opportunity toeither opt in, or opt out. For instance, with some embodiments, when aseller posts an item to the marketplace service, the item may by defaultbe eligible for presentation at a third party online retail store viathe embedded marketplace service. However, the seller may select to optout such that the seller's listing will not be eligible for inclusion inthe embeddable marketplace service. With some embodiments, a seller mayopt out altogether, such that his or her marketplace listing will not beeligible for presentation at any third party online retail stores viathe embeddable marketplace service. Alternatively, with someembodiments, a seller may opt out on a per retailer basis. Accordingly,a seller may indicate that his or her item is not eligible forpresentation at some selected third party online retail stores, but iseligible at others. In some instances, a marketplace seller can selectthe particular third-party websites at which the seller's marketplacelistings are to be presented via the embedded marketplace service. Withsome embodiments, the listing management module 42 will presentinformation to a seller indicating the eligibility requirements for itemand product listings to be eligible for presentation via particularthird party websites (e.g., online retail stores) by way of the embeddedmarketplace service. For instance, a particular online retail store mayspecify that only fixed price offers (and not auctions) are eligible forpresentation via the retailer's online store. Similarly, a particularretailer may specify certain payment processing requirements, shippingrequirements, and/or return and refund policies that must be satisfiedin order for an item or product listing to be eligible for presentationvia the online retail store. Accordingly, with some embodiments, amarketplace seller can make appropriate selections for various listingproperties at the time the seller is generating a marketplace listing,so as to ensure that the seller's listing will be eligible forpresentation at one or more online retail stores operated by third-partyservers.

The search engine module 46 enables the processing of user-submittedsearch queries. For instance, the search engine module 46 may processsearch queries received via the marketplace service, or in someinstances, received from the server operating an online retail storethrough the embedded marketplace service. For instance, with someembodiments, when an end-user of an online retail store performs aproduct search, the search query is forwarded via the embeddedmarketplace service to the search engine module 46 for processing. Whenprocessing a query received via the embedded marketplace service, thesearch engine will select only the marketplace listings that arerelevant (e.g., satisfy the search query) and otherwise satisfy theseller and item eligibility requirements, specified in the configurationdata 48 for that particular merchant or retailer, for being presentedvia the retailer's online retail store. With some embodiments, themarketplace listings that satisfy the seller and item eligibilityrequirements (as determined by the filtering mechanisms that areconfigured by the third-party partner) are communicated in a data feedto the server operating the third party website (e.g., an online retailstore). In such instances, the marketplace listing information isreceived, and indexed, at the server of the online retailer, enablingthe information to be processed by the backend search engine of theonline retail store.

The payment processing module 44 provides a means by which a buyer cantransfer funds to an account of a seller, thereby enabling the partiesto a transaction to conclude a purchase transaction via the marketplaceservice. With some embodiments, the payment processing module 44 may beintegrated with an equivalent module residing at a third-party server,such that payments processed by an online retailer may be distributed toa marketplace seller's account hosted with the marketplace service. Forinstance, when the online retailer prompts a buyer for payment, thepayment may first be processed by the online retailer, and dividedaccording to any revenue sharing agreement, such that the amount due tothe marketplace seller is transferred to an account held by the sellerat the marketplace service, or a payment processing entity.

Prior to using the embedded marketplace service, an online retailer (orother website operator) will configure the embedded marketplace servicefor use with the retailer's online store. Accordingly, using a userinterface associated with the embedded marketplace configuration module50, the online retailer can specify various configuration settings andparameters that ultimately define how the marketplace service willoperate in conjunction with the online retail store. In general, theconfiguration settings define various aspects of how the embeddedmarketplace will function with the online retail store, to include,which marketplace listings are presented via the online retail store,and how various aspects of a transaction involving a marketplace listingthat is processed at the online store is to be handled.

One set of configuration settings are used to establish sellereligibility requirements and item eligibility requirements that controlwhich marketplace listings are eligible for presentation via the onlineretail store. Specifically, with some embodiments, a user interfaceassociated with a seller selection module 52 enables an online retailerto browse and search for sellers, so as to enable the online retailer toselect certain sellers to participate by providing marketplace listingsvia the online retail store. With some embodiments, the seller selectionmodule 52 may also include a means for negotiating with selected sellersconcerning revenue sharing agreements for items and products sold viathe embedded marketplaces services and the online retail store. Inaddition, using the category selection module 54, an online retailer mayselect one or more specific categories, or sub-categories, to whichmarketplace listings are assigned, so that only marketplace listingsassociated with the selected categories, or sub-categories, are eligiblefor presentation at an online store via the embedded marketplaceservice. For example, if an online retail store is serving a particularniche, such as fishing equipment, the online retailer might select aspecific category (e.g., fishing equipment) to ensure that themarketplace listings presented via the online store fit within theseller's niche market. Similarly, with the category selection module 54,an online retailer may select certain categories that are to beexcluded, such that any listing associated with that particular excludedcategory will not be presented via the online retail store.

In addition to selecting particular categories to which marketplacelistings are assigned, a product selection module 56 enables an onlineretailer to specify particular products that are eligible forpresentation at the online store. This allows even greater control thancategory selections and can be particularly useful where the onlineretailer only wants a small number of products to be sourced via theonline marketplace. With some embodiments, more granular controls mayallow an online retailer to control the selection of eligible items andproducts by designating desired, or undesired, item and productattributes.

A format offering selection module 58 enables the online retailer toselect only marketplace listings that are being offered via themarketplace with a particular offering format (e.g., fixed-price, orauction, or type of auction, etc.). For instance, some online retailersmay wish to exclude any marketplace listings that have an auctionformat. A payment control module 60 enables the online retailer tospecify that only marketplace listings that indicate acceptance ofpayments processed by certain payment processing entities be eligiblefor presentation at the online retail store. A return/refund controlmodule 62 enables the online retailer to specify that only marketplacelistings with certain return/refund policies are eligible forpresentation via the embedded marketplace at an online retail store.Finally, a shipping control module 64 enables the online retailer tospecify the particular shipping requirements (e.g., cost and/or shipper)that a marketplace listing must have to be eligible for presentation viathe retailer's online retail store.

Although FIG. 2 shows the various configuration modules as beingindependent modules, in various embodiments, the user interface by whichthe configuration settings are established may be a single userinterface (e.g., web page), or multiple user interfaces (e.g., webpages). With some embodiments, any combination of eligibilityrequirements or parameters may be specified by the online retailer sothat the online retailer has significant control over the buyingexperience that is made possible by the embedded online marketplaceservice.

In addition to specifying configuration settings that generallyestablish eligibility requirements for marketplace listings to bepresented via an online retail store, the online retailer may specifyvarious configuration settings that determine how other aspects of theembedded marketplace service will function. For instance, with someembodiments, various configuration settings can be manipulated tocontrol how, when, and whether marketplace listing information iscommunicated in a data feed from the marketplace servers to the serverof the online retailer. Furthermore, the online retailer may specifyvarious configuration settings that control how a transaction isprocessed, if a buyer selects a marketplace item or product forpurchasing. For instance, the online retailer may elect to process thetransaction with its own shopping cart service, provided via theretailer's own server, or use a shopping cart service provided by theembedded marketplace service. A backend integration module 68 enablesthe marketplace sellers to integrate with an online retailer'sfulfillment backend. Accordingly, with some embodiments, all posttransaction processing for transactions involving marketplace listingsmay be performed by the marketplace service.

With some embodiments, an inventory control module 70 enables an onlineretailer to specify various configuration settings and parameters thatdefine when the online retail store will leverage the embeddedmarketplace service to account for short supply of particular inventory.For example, using the inventory control module 70, an online retailercan dynamically change configuration settings so that the embeddedmarketplace service is to be invoked and marketplace listings presentedwhen the retailer's inventory level for a particular product has fallenbelow some threshold level. With some embodiments, an administrator orretail operator will manually make the configuration setting changesbased on observed inventory levels for certain products and items.However, with some embodiments, an inventory management module residingand executing at the retail server may automatically communicate a lowinventory level signal to the inventory control module 70 at themarketplace system 40 and thereby invoke a configuration setting changefor a particular product or item. For instance, in response to receivingthe low inventory signal for a particular product, the configurationsettings may be changed to include marketplace listings for theparticular product. Similarly, using the inventory control module 70,the online retailer may dynamically change configuration settings tobroaden the set of sellers that qualify for participation with theonline retail store when the number of marketplace listings fromeligible marketplace sellers is less than some desired level. Forexample, the inventory control module 70 may provide inventory levelinformation on a per product basis as the retailer is making changes tothe configuration settings, thereby allowing the retailer to see thenumber of qualifying marketplace listings—based on the desired sellereligibility settings.

Once the online retailer has configured the embedded marketplace servicefor use with an online retail store, the embedded marketplace servicecan be initiated or activated to operate in conjunction with the onlineretailer's store. Accordingly, consistent with the various configurationsettings established by the retailer, marketplace listings will bepresented with the goods being offered by the retail store. With someembodiments, the server hosting the online retail store will communicatevarious requests to the embedded marketplace service, and the requestswill be processed by a real-time request processing module 72. Forexample, the online retail store may send a request for marketplacelistings that, once received, are to be presented via the online store.The real-time processing module 72 processes these requests and returnsto the particular online store the relevant marketplace listings thatsatisfy the request. With some embodiments, some of the configurationsettings may be specified in the request, such that a request may beparticularly narrow in scope. For instance, a request may indicate thatonly marketplace listings for a particular product from a particularseller are being requested. Alternatively, the request may simplyinclude an identifier that identifies the particular online storesending the request. In response, the real-time processing module 72will access the configuration settings 48 for the online store, andprocess the request in accordance with the configuration settings. Forinstance, if the retailer had previously specified that only certainproducts are to be presented, the request processing module wouldprocess the request in accordance with the configuration settings toreturn only marketplace listings for the particular product.

With some embodiments, a potential buyer browsing the online retailstore may perform a search by entering a search query via a userinterface of the online retail store. The third-party server hosting theonline store may forward the search query with a request for relevantmarketplace listings to the embedded marketplace service. The real-timerequest processing module 72 will then forward the search query to thesearch engine module 46, which will process the search query to identifythe item and product listings that best satisfy the search query. Thesearch results may then be filtered to exclude any marketplace listingsthat do not satisfy one or more of the configuration settingsestablished by the online retailer. With some embodiments, one or moreconfiguration settings may be passed to the search engine module tolimit the scope of the search that is performed by the search enginemodule. For example, if the online retailer has specified that onlymarketplace listings from certain sellers are eligible for presentationvia the online retail store, then this information may be passed to thesearch engine module so that the search can be limited to themarketplace listings of the relevant sellers.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method forestablishing, and then periodically modifying, one or more configurationsettings of an embeddable marketplace service, according to someembodiments of the invention. At method operation 74, a marketplaceserver hosting an embeddable marketplace service receives one or moreconfiguration settings defining how the embedded marketplace service isto operate in conjunction with an online retail store hosted at a thirdparty server. For example, the marketplace system may provide aweb-based interface to allow a retailer to access and manipulate thevarious configuration settings of the embeddable marketplace service.With some embodiments, one or more wizard-like interfaces may beprovided, such that the retailer is presented with a series of promptsasking for various information for use with the configuration settings.Once the configuration settings have been established, and the embeddedmarketplace service has been invoked for the particular online retailstore, an administrator or retail operator may periodically anddynamically revise or update a configuration setting, as indicated bymethod operation 76. With some embodiments, one or more configurationsettings may be revised by means of an application programming interface(API) call, such that various configuration settings of the embeddablemarketplace service may be revised and updated automatically by a logiccomponent residing and executing at a server of an online retail store.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method for processing arequest, received from a third-party server that is configured to use anembedded marketplace service, for marketplace listings to be presentedvia an online retail store hosted at a third-party server, according tosome embodiments of the invention. Generally, the method operationsbegin after the marketplace server hosting the embedded marketplaceservice has received one or more configuration settings specifying howthe embedded marketplace service is to operate in conjunction with theonline retail store. For instance, the configuration settings mayspecify various eligibility requirements that must be satisfied in orderfor a particular item or product listing to be eligible for presentationvia the online store. Beginning at method operation 82, the embeddedmarketplace service receives a request (e.g., an API request) for one ormore marketplace listings to be presented via the online retail store.With some embodiments, the request may specify a particular product.Alternatively, the request may simply include a search query submittedby the user of the online retail store. In any case, at method operation84, the embedded marketplace service processes the request to identifyone or more marketplace listings that satisfy the parameters specifiedin the configuration settings established by the online retailer, andthe search query included in the request, if any. For example, theembedded marketplace service may identify only marketplace listings thatsatisfy a search query, and meet the various eligibility requirementsestablished by the online retailer. Finally, at method operation 86, theembedded marketplace service communicates the one or more marketplacelistings to the third-party server, thereby enabling the online retailstore to present the marketplace listings to a potential buyer.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example user interface for use with an onlineretail store that is configured to use an embedded marketplace service,according to some embodiments of the invention. As illustrated in FIG.5, the example user interface is presenting a search results pagegenerated by the server hosting the online store, and showing a varietyof items available via the online store. For example, in the leftportion of the user interface 90, several store listings are shown. Inthe right most portion of the user interface 92, presented in a separatepane or frame is a list of marketplace listings showing marketplacelistings that are generally complimentary to those offered by the onlineretail store. In this example, the marketplace listings have beenprovided to the online store as a result of the online store forwardinga user's search query to the embedded marketplace service, and theembedded marketplace service responding with marketplace listings thatsatisfy the search query, and otherwise meet any eligibilityrequirements set forth in the various configuration settings provided bythe online retailer.

The various operations of example methods described herein may beperformed, at least partially, by one or more processors that aretemporarily configured (e.g., by software) or permanently configured toperform the relevant operations. Whether temporarily or permanentlyconfigured, such processors may constitute processor-implemented modulesor objects that operate to perform one or more operations or functions.The modules and objects referred to herein may, in some exampleembodiments, comprise processor-implemented modules and/or objects.

Similarly, the methods described herein may be at least partiallyprocessor-implemented. For example, at least some of the operations of amethod may be performed by one or more processors orprocessor-implemented modules. The performance of certain operations maybe distributed among the one or more processors, not only residingwithin a single machine or computer, but deployed across a number ofmachines or computers. In some example embodiments, the processor orprocessors may be located in a single location (e.g., within a homeenvironment, an office environment or at a server farm), while in otherembodiments the processors may be distributed across a number oflocations.

The one or more processors may also operate to support performance ofthe relevant operations in a “cloud computing” environment or within thecontext of“software as a service” (SaaS). For example, at least some ofthe operations may be performed by a group of computers (as examples ofmachines including processors), these operations being accessible via anetwork (e.g., the Internet) and via one or more appropriate interfaces(e.g., Application Program Interfaces (APIs)).

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a machine in the form of a computer systemwithin which a set of instructions, for causing the machine to performany one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, may be executed.In alternative embodiments, the machine operates as a standalone deviceor may be connected (e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networkeddeployment, the machine may operate in the capacity of a server or aclient machine in a client-server network environment, or as a peermachine in peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. In apreferred embodiment, the machine will be a server computer, however, inalternative embodiments, the machine may be a personal computer (PC), atablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), amobile telephone, a web appliance, a network router, switch or bridge,or any machine capable of executing instructions (sequential orotherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. Further,while only a single machine is illustrated, the term “machine” shallalso be taken to include any collection of machines that individually orjointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform anyone or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

The example computer system 1500 includes a processor 1502 (e.g., acentral processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU) orboth), a main memory 1501 and a static memory 1506, which communicatewith each other via a bus 1508. The computer system 1500 may furtherinclude a display unit 1510, an alphanumeric input device 1517 (e.g., akeyboard), and a user interface (UI) navigation device 1511 (e.g., amouse). In one embodiment, the display, input device and cursor controldevice are a touch screen display. The computer system 1500 mayadditionally include a storage device 1516 (e.g., drive unit), a signalgeneration device 1518 (e.g., a speaker), a network interface device1520, and one or more sensors 1521, such as a global positioning systemsensor, compass, accelerometer, or other sensor.

The drive unit 1516 includes a machine-readable medium 1522 on which isstored one or more sets of instructions and data structures (e.g.,software 1523) embodying or utilized by any one or more of themethodologies or functions described herein. The software 1523 may alsoreside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 1501and/or within the processor 1502 during execution thereof by thecomputer system 1500, the main memory 1501 and the processor 1502 alsoconstituting machine-readable media.

While the machine-readable medium 1522 is illustrated in an exampleembodiment to be a single medium, the term “machine-readable medium” mayinclude a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized ordistributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) that storethe one or more instructions. The term “machine-readable medium” shallalso be taken to include any tangible medium that is capable of storing,encoding or carrying instructions for execution by the machine and thatcause the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies of thepresent invention, or that is capable of storing, encoding or carryingdata structures utilized by or associated with such instructions. Theterm “machine-readable medium” shall accordingly be taken to include,but not be limited to, solid-state memories, and optical and magneticmedia. Specific examples of machine-readable media include non-volatilememory, including by way of example semiconductor memory devices, e.g.,EPROM, EEPROM, and flash memory devices, magnetic disks such as internalhard disks and removable disks, magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM andDVD-ROM disks.

The software 1523 may further be transmitted or received over acommunications network 1526 using a transmission medium via the networkinterface device 1520 utilizing any one of a number of well-knowntransfer protocols (e.g., HTTP). Examples of communication networksinclude a local area network (“LAN”), a wide area network (“WAN”), theInternet, mobile telephone networks, Plain Old Telephone (POTS)networks, and wireless data networks (e.g., Wi-Fi® and WiMax® networks).The term “transmission medium” shall be taken to include any intangiblemedium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying instructions forexecution by the machine, and includes digital or analog communicationssignals or other intangible medium to facilitate communication of suchsoftware.

Although an embodiment has been described with reference to specificexample embodiments, it will be evident that various modifications andchanges may be made to these embodiments without departing from thebroader spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, thespecification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative ratherthan a restrictive sense. The accompanying drawings that form a parthereof, show by way of illustration, and not of limitation, specificembodiments in which the subject matter may be practiced. Theembodiments illustrated are described in sufficient detail to enablethose skilled in the art to practice the teachings disclosed herein.Other embodiments may be utilized and derived therefrom, such thatstructural and logical substitutions and changes may be made withoutdeparting from the scope of this disclosure. This Detailed Description,therefore, is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope ofvarious embodiments is defined only by the appended claims, along withthe full range of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: sending a seller eligibilityconfiguration setting and a listing eligibility configuration setting toa first publication application; receiving filtered identified listingsfrom the first publication application based on the seller eligibilityconfiguration setting and the listing eligibility configuration setting;integrating the filtered identified listings with content from a secondpublication application; and presenting the integrated filteredidentified listings in conjunction with content from the secondpublication application, the filtered identified listings from the firstpublication application associated with a first universal resourcelocator (URL) that is distinct from a second URL associated with thesecond publication application.
 2. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: identifying the filtered identified listings based on theseller eligibility configuration setting and the listing eligibilityconfiguration setting.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:accessing a plurality of listings from a storage device, the pluralityof listings being distinct from the content from the publication;filtering the plurality of listings based on the seller eligibilityconfiguration setting and the listing eligibility configuration setting;and identifying the filtered identified listings based on the filteringof the plurality of listings.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein thecontent from the publication application comprises a plurality oflistings, wherein the plurality of listings does not include any of thefiltered identified listings.
 5. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: communicating with a second server, the second serverconfigured to operate the publication application; determining thefiltered identified listings from a first publication applicationoperated by a first server; and providing the filtered identifiedlistings to the second server.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein thefiltered identified listings from the first publication applicationassociated with a first universal resource locator (URL) that isdistinct from a second URL associated with the publication application.7. The method of claim 1, wherein the seller eligibility configurationsetting identifies a combination of an identity of an author of alisting and a selection criterion for the author of the listing, whereinthe listing eligibility configuration setting identifies anitem-specific criterion for an item of a listing.
 8. The method of claim7, wherein the item-specific criterion comprises a combination of anitem condition and an item offering format, wherein the filteredidentified listings are further based on a data feed setting and alisting presentation setting provided by the publication application. 9.The method of claim 1, wherein the publication application is configuredto intermingle and present the integrated filtered identified listingsin conjunction with content from the publication application in a commonuser interface of the publication application.
 10. The method of claim1, further comprising: providing an interface for operating thepublication application with a primary publication application;receiving, via the interface, the seller eligibility configurationsetting and the listing eligibility configuration setting; accessing aplurality of listings from the primary publication application; andidentifying the filtered identified listings from the plurality oflistings based on the seller eligibility configuration setting and thelisting eligibility configuration setting.
 11. A computing apparatus,the computing apparatus comprising: a processor; and a memory storinginstructions that, when executed by the processor, configure theapparatus to perform operations comprising: sending a sellerconfiguration setting and a listing eligibility configuration setting toa first publication application; receiving filtered identified listingsfrom a first publication application based on the seller eligibilityconfiguration setting and the listing eligibility configuration setting;integrating the filtered identified listings with content from a secondpublication application; and presenting the integrated filteredidentified listings in conjunction with content from the secondpublication application, the filtered identified listings from the firstpublication application associated with a first universal resourcelocator (URL) that is distinct from a second URL associated with thesecond publication application.
 12. The computing apparatus of claim 11,wherein the instructions further configure the apparatus to: identifythe filtered identified listings based on the seller eligibilityconfiguration setting and the listing eligibility configuration setting.13. The computing apparatus of claim 11, wherein the instructionsfurther configure the apparatus to: access a plurality of listings froma storage device, the plurality of listings being distinct from thecontent from the publication; filter the plurality of listings based onthe seller eligibility configuration setting and the listing eligibilityconfiguration setting; and identify the filtered identified listingsbased on the filtering of the plurality of listings.
 14. The computingapparatus of claim 11, wherein the content from the publicationapplication comprises a plurality of listings, wherein the plurality oflistings does not include any of the filtered identified listings. 15.The computing apparatus of claim 11, wherein the instructions furtherconfigure the apparatus to: communicate with a second server, the secondserver configured to operate the publication application; determine thefiltered identified listings from a first publication applicationoperated by a first server; and provide the filtered identified listingsto the second server.
 16. The computing apparatus of claim 15, whereinthe filtered identified listings from the first publication applicationassociated with a first universal resource locator (URL) that isdistinct from a second URL associated with the publication application.17. The computing apparatus of claim 11, wherein the seller eligibilityconfiguration setting identifies a combination of an identity of anauthor of a listing and a selection criterion for the author of thelisting, wherein the listing eligibility configuration settingidentifies an item-specific criterion for an item of a listing.
 18. Thecomputing apparatus of claim 17, wherein the item-specific criterioncomprises a combination of an item condition and an item offeringformat, wherein the filtered identified listings are further based on adata feed setting and a listing presentation setting provided by thepublication application.
 19. The computing apparatus of claim 11,wherein the publication application is configured to intermingle andpresent the integrated filtered identified listings in conjunction withcontent from the publication application in a common user interface ofthe publication application.
 20. A non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium, the computer-readable storage medium includinginstructions that when executed by a computer, cause the computer toperform operations comprising: sending a seller eligibilityconfiguration setting and a listing eligibility configuration setting toa first publication application; receiving filtered identified listingsfrom a first publication application based on the seller eligibilityconfiguration setting and the listing eligibility configuration setting,integrating the filtered identified listings with content from a secondpublication application; and presenting the integrated filteredidentified listings in conjunction with content from the secondpublication application, the filtered identified listings from the firstpublication application associated with a first universal resourcelocator (URL) that is distinct from a second URL associated with thesecond publication application.